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From: wa263@sdcc12.UUCP (bookmark)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.med
Subject: Re: Tooth Decay...
Message-ID: <442@sdcc12.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 25-Aug-85 13:27:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcc12.442
Posted: Sun Aug 25 13:27:37 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Aug-85 09:25:36 EDT
References: <430@timeinc.UUCP> <498@cadre.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: You See Sandy Eggo
Lines: 38
Xref: watmath net.legal:2183 net.med:2224
Summary: Eastern physicians and dentists must be greedy, because...

In article <498@cadre.ARPA>, geb@cadre.ARPA (Gordon E. Banks) writes:
> 
> Well, you probably should ask your lawyer, but, although
> $160 for an exam sounds outrageous, unless the dentist spent
> more than 90 minutes on it (himself), unless there was some
> understanding that follow-up visits are free, you are probably
> liable.  There are a few (very few) surgeons who give free
> follow-up care, but 99.9% of them it is a new charge every time
> you come.  They aren't obligated to tell you in advance the fee for each
> visit unless you specifically ask.  Most people don't ask.
> I would suggest a trip to New Jersey or Connecticutt for future
> dental work.


	In sunny California, when a physician or dentist undertakes to
perform a certain procedure, his fee usually (not unusually) includes
whatever care that procedure entails, though materials may be charged
separately.  For instance, an oral surgeon who undertakes to remove some
impacted wisdom teeth may require three office visits:  one for X-rays
and preliminary examination, one for the surgery, and one for suture
removal and followup examination.  All of these will be included in the
single fee for the procedure, which will be discussed at the outset.
Disposables (like drugs, sutures, sponges, etc.) might appear on the bill
separately.  Complications may cause the fee to go up, but if they're
iatrogenic, or *should* have been forseen upon the preliminary exam, the
doctor usually swallows the extra cost himself.

	I'd be quite upset to get an extra bill for something (a visit)
that the doctor told me to do (``come back on Wednesday'') as part of
care for which the fee had already been discussed.  Now, if the doctor
saw that I had a ragged tooth and said:  ``I could grind that down for
you if you'd like...'' and I said, ``that'd be nice, when could you do
it?'' then I would consider that we were discussing a new procedure with,
presumably, a new fee, and I'd ask ``how much will you charge for that?''
An ethical doctor would tell me, *even if I didn't ask,*  something like
``that'll cost you thirty dollars.''

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